by Mike Godsey, mail: mike AT iwindsurf
Recent days have seen cool powerful easterly winds in the western Gorge, powerful Santa Ana winds for Southern California, nagging wind killing NE winds just aloft over the Bay Area.
And for the great majority of kiters and windsurfers, these easterly winds are useless.
But there is one region that really benefits from this pattern. This animation shows the wind hero for Baja and the wind culprit for the rest of the west coast.
Note how the topography of the Gorge makes the wind pure east. While to backbone of the Baja Peninsula makes the wind there more NNW.
Check out the high pressure and all the winds spiraling out from the High.
All these easterly winds fades the next day or so as the high pressure finally exits eastward.
The wind in all these